What, What the Hell Is That Guy?!
The player who’d been kicked out, Gu Sung-wook, muttered under his breath in utter disbelief.
When everyone had warned him not to pick the Salz Kingdom, Gu Sung-wook had chosen the Salz Kingdom anyway.
If nobody else is taking it, then if I can just survive the early game, I should be able to monopolize the quests and items, right?
His calculation had been right, to an extent.
In fact, compared to the other kingdoms, the Salz Kingdom really did have less competition.
But even taking that into account, the Salz Kingdom had far too little going for it.
It was a good thing he wasn’t a mage. If he had been, he wouldn’t have been able to do anything here at all.
Somehow, he’d made it through the early game.
After that, he headed to Libera City, the capital of the Salz Kingdom, and devoted himself to quests.
There were so many people playing Fantasy Online 2 that while players who started in the Salz Kingdom were relatively rare, they still existed if you looked hard enough.
Besides, there were also players who’d leveled elsewhere and come here because they needed something.
Thanks to that, he’d been able to found a guild and even class-change into the rare Dual Swordsman.
His level was 84, too.
It wasn’t a level that would leave him lagging behind anywhere.
The problem had come up while he was in the middle of a quest.
Finding the best hunter in the Salz Kingdom was difficult.
The hunters in every city insisted they were the best.
But finding the best blacksmith was easy.
Seek Out the Finest Blacksmith in Salz
📍 Location:Tyrum City
🎁 Reward: Learn the recipe for Cold Cry's Sword
The blacksmith Gurendal in Tyrum City was the best blacksmith in the Salz Kingdom.
Go find him and learn the recipe for Cold Cry's Sword.
A Heroic-grade item—Cold Cry's Sword!
Just like classes, items were divided into the ranks of Normal, Rare, Heroic, and Legendary.
There were Normal-grade items better than some Rare-grade items, and Rare-grade items better than some Heroic-grade items, but in general, the higher the rank, the better the performance.
And at present, most of the items circulating on the market were Rare-grade.
Even Rare-grade items sold on trading sites for anywhere from several hundred thousand won to several million won.
And this was Heroic grade!
There was no way he wouldn’t covet it.
So that was why he’d come here.
I swore I’d never come back to Tyrum City after escaping the beginner phase...
Players who started in Tyrum City all had roughly the same reaction once they passed level 10.
—I'm never coming back to this city again!
But they had no choice but to come back.
They had to clear quests, after all.
But Gurendal was even pricklier than he’d expected.
The guy snapped in irritation if you so much as tried to speak to him, so there was nothing Gu Sung-wook could do.
In that situation, seeing a player who looked low-level succeed in striking up a conversation with him that easily was shocking.
“E-excuse me.”
“...?”
Tae-hyun turned his head.
“How did you get so friendly with that blacksmith?”
“I’m not really friendly with him, though?”
“...No, I mean, he curses me out, but he’s nice to you!”
Tae-hyun stared at Gu Sung-wook for a moment.
“You’re trying to get it for free?”
“Huh?”
“You look pretty high-level. Invest a little.”
“Ah, ah! Right. Sure.”
Gu Sung-wook wasn’t stupid.
There was one thing that had stayed the same in both Fantasy Online 1 and Fantasy Online 2.
Information wasn’t free.
There were plenty of information posts on the forums, but the truly important stuff never got posted.
And when you thought about it, that was obvious.
Who would give away valuable information for free?
That would just be taking a loss.
“How about... 10 silver?”
Tae-hyun didn’t answer.
“Uh... 50 silver?”
“......”
“1 gold?”
“......”
“No, just tell me how much you want!”
“I don’t place importance on the amount of money.”
That was, of course, a lie.
Tae-hyun had been obsessively attached to money ever since Fantasy Online 1.
The popularity of Fantasy Online was global.
You could exchange real money for in-game money, and in-game money for real money.
There were even quite a few players who made income that way.
But Tae-hyun didn’t do it for the income.
He already had plenty of money in real life.
You need money to gear up...
No matter how much grinding you did, making equipment required materials, and it was hard to gather all of them alone.
At some point, you had to buy at least some with money.
And spending real money to buy game items offended Tae-hyun’s aesthetic sense.
—A game should be solved inside the game!
“You don’t care about the amount of money?”
“It’s the sincerity that matters. Sincerity.”
Watching Tae-hyun tell a lie that wasn’t fooling anyone, Gu Sung-wook was dumbfounded.
It was obvious he was just asking for more money.
“You know, there’s the effort I put into getting that information in the first place. If you just coldly convert all that into cash, wouldn’t that hurt my feelings?”
“No, what do you mean, hurt your—”
“Then go ask someone else.”
Tae-hyun turned away without the slightest hesitation.
Gu Sung-wook immediately forced a smile and grabbed Tae-hyun by the arm.
“Your feelings could definitely get hurt! Hahaha!”
“That’s why sincerity matters.”
Gu Sung-wook suddenly felt a powerful urge to punch him.
He let out a sigh and pulled out some gold.
Considering the value of Cold Cry's Sword, even paying several dozen gold would still leave him making a profit.
“20 gold? That’s all?”
“I’d like to give you more, but I don’t have any more money on me right now.”
“You look like you do.”
“No, seriously, I don’t. I spent it all gearing up.”
Gu Sung-wook was beginning to feel sad that he had to explain his finances just to humor some beginner.
Of course, he did have more money.
But he couldn’t bring himself to give that too.
At that point, it wasn’t about money. It was about pride.
“Well, I can feel the sincerity at this point.”
I want to punch him. I seriously want to punch him.
“If you want to get close to that blacksmith, don’t try acting friendly with the blacksmith. Act friendly with the Tyrum Hunters. Then you’ll naturally get on his good side.”
“Huh? The Tyrum Hunters?”
Gu Sung-wook looked horrified.
Get close to the Tyrum Hunters?
“Do you have some kind of grudge against the Tyrum Hunters or something?”
“No grudge... but how the hell did you get close to them?”
Just hearing the Tyrum Hunters mentioned seemed to make Gu Sung-wook grind his teeth.
And in truth, he’d gone through absolute hell because of them back when he was a beginner.
Stupid brutes... damn it.
Gu Sung-wook hadn’t always felt that way.
Since he’d started in Tyrum City, he’d intended to clear quests here at first.
He’d planned to build relationships with the people of Tyrum and grow from there.
But after accepting quests from the Tyrum Hunters, he changed his mind.
The rewards were stingy as hell, but the things they ordered him to do were ridiculously difficult.
No wonder he’d had no desire to stay here.
So Gu Sung-wook had left for the capital of the Salz Kingdom.
And he hadn’t regretted that decision even once.
Everyone in Tyrum is definitely a barbarian. The devs must have made them that way on purpose!
“What do you mean, how did I get close to them? Are you asking because you seriously don’t know?”
One look at Tae-hyun’s eyes, and Gu Sung-wook understood what he was thinking.
You’re that high-level, and you still don’t know how to build affinity with NPCs?
“You just do the quests they give you and bring them what they ask for.”
“N-no, I know that, but... don’t they make you do insane stuff?”
“Well, that can’t be helped.”
Tae-hyun answered coolly and turned his head away.
He’d already gotten paid, so there was no need to be nice anymore.
Gu Sung-wook had the distinct feeling he’d been scammed.
It was useful information, sure, knowing that getting close to the Tyrum Hunters would improve his standing with that blacksmith—but was it really worth 20 gold?
“Hmm... I’ll try it first. Thanks!”
The one who cut off the conversation was the blacksmith Gurendal.
He bellowed loudly from inside.
“How long are you going to stand out there? Are you coming in or not?!”
“Coming right now!”
Even with high affinity, it was never good to keep someone with that bad a temper waiting.
Tae-hyun immediately ran inside.
“That sounds kind of like saying, ‘Focus on the core subjects and study from the textbook’...”
Muttering that under his breath, Tae-hyun brought the hammer down.
Virtual reality games weren’t like clicking a mouse.
You had to move your body yourself.
Sparks flew, and the heat beside him felt vividly real.
Tae-hyun swung the hammer in silence.
You have learned Blacksmithing.
Your Blacksmithing skill proficiency increases.
“For all the praise August gave you, your strength’s pretty lacking, lad.”
“My apologies. I’ll do my best!”
The aftereffects of investing all his stats into luck!
His other stats had no choice but to be pitiful.
Tae-hyun hurriedly called out.
He already knew what Gurendal’s personality was like.
If Tae-hyun rubbed him the wrong way, the guy might just throw him out.
“Well, if your strength’s lacking, that can’t be helped. Put this on, then.”
“...!”
◈ Durability: 30/30
◈ When equipped: Strength +20
◈ A bracelet traditionally passed down among blacksmiths. It was the bracelet Gurendal received from his own master.
Strength goes up by 20?!
Tae-hyun had to fight to keep his mouth from falling open.
To hand over an item like that so casually, like it was nothing...
All at once, Gurendal’s rough-looking face started to seem handsome.
“Thank you! Come to think of it, my perseverance’s a little lacking too...”
“Then put this on.”
◈ Durability: 35/35
◈ When equipped: Stamina +20
◈ A belt traditionally passed down among blacksmiths. It was the belt Gurendal received from his own master.
“!!”
He’d only asked on a whim, but the man had really given it to him.
At this point, Gurendal was starting to feel like Santa Claus.
The Stamina stat has been created.
In Fantasy Online 2, there were many hidden stats.
Those kinds of stats would be created under certain conditions, or through quests.
Stamina was one of those cases.
“Come to think of it, I’m a bit lacking in mana too...”
“...?”
Gurendal looked at Tae-hyun like he was asking why in the world he was being told that.
Yeah, I guess even this won’t work.
Tae-hyun gave up quickly and equipped the items.
“Start by making daggers. I need ten daggers to send to the Tyrum Hunters.”
Daggers for the Tyrum Hunters
The blacksmith Gurendal forges the weapons used by the Tyrum Hunters.
Create ten daggers for their use.
If you fail, both Gurendal and the Tyrum Hunters will be disappointed.
🎁 Reward: Increased affinity with Gurendal, linked quest, ?? silver
Since there were question marks in front of the silver reward, it was obvious that the payout would vary depending on the quality of the daggers.
Well, they’ll probably come out Normal-grade anyway. And probably the very worst of the lot.
Tae-hyun had only just learned Blacksmithing.
If he made daggers with skill at that level, he had to focus on simply not failing.
Since he’d unexpectedly gotten some equipment, Tae-hyun cast aside his greed and began hammering.
Just don’t make any mistakes.
◈ Durability: 20/20
◈ Attack Power: 40
◈ The maker’s workmanship is atrocious, but for some reason it’s a high-performance weapon.
◈ Archisus must have played a prank.
A blue glow shone from the dagger.
Tae-hyun checked the rank in shock.
“A Rare item?!”
“What’s all the fuss about?”
When Tae-hyun cried out, Gurendal scratched his chin and came over.
The moment he saw the dagger in Tae-hyun’s hand, he jumped.
“You made this?!”
“I’m surprised too.”
“No, seriously—you made this? You’re not pulling a prank on me, are you?”
After asking over and over, Gurendal examined the dagger closely.
He looked like a man haunted by ghosts.
“The workmanship’s terrible, but the balance is excellent and the edge is properly set. This is a miracle! How in the world is something like this possible?”
Tae-hyun knew why.
It was because of luck.